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Pioneer Institute Misleads State Taxpayers, Report Finds

Somerville, MA, – The Pioneer Institute for Public Policy
Research has manipulated Massachusetts politics to advance and profit from
their libertarian agenda, to the detriment of the taxpayers, according
to a new report from Political Research Associates.

The Pioneer Institute: Privatizing the Common Wealth, co-authored
by veteran journalist Paul Dunphy and researcher Mark Umi Perkings, examines
how the libertarian free-market ideas advocated by the Pioneer Institute
have taken hold in Massachusetts, a traditionally Democratic stronghold.
The report details the Institute’s work in promoting privatization in a
host of areas including mental health care, education, charter schools,
and school vouchers, tracing the movements of former Pioneer staff members
through state government in the Weld, Cellucci and Swift administrations.

According to the report, “Appointments to the Board of Education, the
Department of Education and the executive branch itself, allowed Pioneer
staff to implement the policy prescriptions they developed while at Pioneer.”
The report also reveals that Pioneer affiliates positioned themselves to
profit from the government’s implementation of their ideas.

“What struck me during the course of writing this report is the
incredible hypocrisy underlying most of the Pioneer Institute's initiatives.
While it claims to favor government doing "less with less" Pioneer's pet
programs, such as charter schools, have burdened taxpayers with millions
of dollars in new costs,” says Dunphy.

The report concludes by stating that sound legislation created
in cooperation with community and government groups can prevent unsound
privatization initiatives while allowing well-founded initiatives to move
forward.

Political Research Associates is an independent, nonprofit research
center that studies antidemocratic, authoritarian, and other oppressive
movements, institutions, and trends.